


One Day

by kay_emm_gee



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Future Fic, Gen, Grief/Mourning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-02
Updated: 2015-10-02
Packaged: 2018-04-24 09:39:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4914541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kay_emm_gee/pseuds/kay_emm_gee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Raven never forgot that Jasper called her family, and family is there for each other, no matter what. Using her own brand of tough love, she helps him grieve after Mt. Weather, hoping that one day he is ready to move forward.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Day

**Author's Note:**

> I just really loved that scene between Raven and Jasper about the bullets and family-found in season 1 (Unity Day, I think?) and I felt compelled to explore that relationship more. (Also, her giving him back his goggles in 2x16 broke my heart UGH).

Raven slammed the can down on the table.

Jasper startled, glared at her through slit eyes, then glared at the can.

“Look inside,” she barked.

Slumping in his seat at the deserted lunch table, he pushed the can away. It toppled over, clanging as it rolled back towards her.

“It’s empty,” he muttered. “What do you want?”

“More.”

“Of?” He sneered.

“Can you read, moron?”

“Fuck off, Raven.”

“Read the damn label, jackass.”

She stared him down, having had enough of his bullshit. Ever since the mountain he had either pissed everyone off, or scared them off, and she had watched him eat alone, work alone, getting thinner and gaunter by the day. Images of her own ribs striping through her skin, right before the dropship fire, then again right after Finn died, wouldn’t leave her head. Grief was a hungry beast, sucking everything from you. She wasn’t about to let it get Jasper too.

So she rolled the can back to him, and he picked it up this time, still glaring, but at least he was listening to her.

“Gunpowder,” he said dully. “You need more gunpowder.”

“Can you do it?”

Jasper flicked a glance up at her, a surprised one, and she nearly sighed in relief at seeing something other than anger and loss burning in his bloodshot eyes.

“Can you do it?” She repeated archly, bracing her hands on the table as she leaned over him in challenge.

“No promises,” he grumbled.

Raven shrugged, turned, and then walked back to the Ark, holding her breath the entire way, because he could still change his mind.

He didn’t call after, though, and she exhaled deeply as she crossed over the threshold of her workroom, because it was a start.

* * *

One week later, he slammed the refilled can down on her workbench, leaving a faint ring of rust on her plans for the new kitchen generator.

She glared at him, then huffed. “Don’t be a dick.”

He sniffed. “I did what you wanted.”

“I need more than one can.”

“You only asked for one can,” he snapped.

“And now I’m telling you, I need more than one,” she replied, smacking his knuckles with her pen.

“Too bad for you,” he muttered, spinning around on his heel before skulking towards the door.

“Hey!” Raven bellowed. “You think you don’t need to contribute to us surviving here?”

“I do my fair share,” he sniped back. “I work in the kitchen, I helped with the Ark repairs. Lay off.”

“You hate skinning and cleaning the meat–it makes you nauseous–and you got sent to medical four times by the construction crew. You almost broke your hand.”

Jasper’s eyes widened briefly, then narrowed. “I don’t need a damn babysitter, Raven.”

“Really? Because the last time you ate was four days ago. And you’ve driven everyone else off, but guess what? I’m not scared of you.”

His lips pursed and he took a faltering step back, but she continued, knowing he needed to hear it.

“I’m worried about you, Jasper,” she said softly, even as his eyes hardened at her words. Shoulders hunched, he stormed off in a hurry.

“I need at least four more cans of that gunpowder!” She yelled at his retreating, entirely unsure if he would ever be back.

* * *

He did come back, with six cans, and in record time. Raven had to bite back a smile as he glowered at her after depositing them on her shelves.

“Wick can’t get the viscosity right on our new motor oil formula,” she blurted, not waiting for him to pick another argument. “You should take a crack at it.”

For a few minutes he just ambled about her workroom, toying with odds and ends. It nearly killed her to let him put his hands on all of her precious ongoing projects, but she wasn’t about to spook him off. Gritting her teeth, she turned her attention back to the broken radios in front of her. Unsurprisingly, she quickly lost herself in the mess of circuits, tweaking them back into functioning order.

A good chunk of time had passed when she looked up and saw Jasper pouring our small amounts of oil into various beakers, swirling them to mix it with whatever additives he was trying out. This time a smile escaped her, and she crouched over her radios, not wanting him to see.

_Slow and steady,_  she thought grimly as she got back to her own work.

* * *

Raven nearly choked on her piece of rabbit when Jasper slammed his meal tray down across from hers, instead of eating alone like he usually did. With a sullen nod, he plopped into the seat, hunching over his own plate to shovel food into his mouth.

She watched him carefully, slowing her own eating to let him catch up, since she was almost done. He didn’t look at her once, except when he finished, staring pointedly as he scraped his plate clean. Rolling her eyes, she waited until he rose to do the same, dumping her tray in the dirty dishes bucket right on top of his.

“I think I’ve got a better combo for the gunpowder,” he mumbled as they walked back to the Ark.”

“Yeah?”

“I remembered an extra step my dad used to use.”

“Right. He was one of the best chemists on the Ark, I remember.”

Jasper tensed, and looked away, but not before she saw the pain in his eyes. “Yeah. He was.”

They walked for a few moments in silence before she said, cautiously, “I’ll let Bellamy know.”

His eyes darkened at the name, but he didn’t say a word, just jerked his head in farewell.

Raven rolled her neck, trying to stop the tension from creeping into it. She knew what it was, to resent someone, especially a friend, for taking a loved one away, but she also knew hatred was exhausting.

She didn’t hate Clarke, not anymore, and she hoped with every part of her that Jasper wouldn’t let his own darkness win, because it would eat him alive. Not that she would let it get that far, not if she had any say in the matter. And she had plenty to say, of that she was sure.

* * *

“Stop that right now,” Raven snapped, snatching the acid from Jasper’s shaking hands, setting it down on the table out of his reach. “You’re in no condition to be handling chemicals right now.”

“Don’t tell me what to do!” He shouted, brimming with rage.

“I won’t, as long as you do something other than this. I don’t particularly feel like getting blown up today.”

“I’m not incompetent, you know!”

“You’re emotional. It will make you incompetent.”

“I’m not!”

“You’re acting like a child, and we both know why.”

“Don’t,” Jasper growled.

“You heard that Clarke had been spotted in a nearby village. That Bellamy and Monty went out to look for her. That’s why you’re a mess.”

“Don’t say their names!” He bellowed.

“Who, Clarke? Bellamy? Monty?”

Raven’s breath caught in her throat as he trembled with rage, wondering if she had pushed him too far. When he didn’t move, just stood there paralyzed, she drew herself up taller, made her expression kinder.

“It probably wasn’t Clarke, but she might be back someday. You need to prepare yourself for that.”

“So you’ve forgiven her,” he spat. “For killing Finn. I don’t believe it.”

“I understand why she did it,” Raven said carefully, struggling to keep the still-fresh grief and bitterness from her voice. “She saved him from a lot of pain and suffering at the hands of the Grounders. It was the best of a lot of horrible options.”

“She  _murdered_  him! Just like she murdered Maya!” Jasper screamed, his shriek twisting into a sob at his girl’s name.

“She killed the girl you loved, I know,” Raven shouted. “She killed the boy I loved, and I don’t know if I’ll ever really forgive her for that. But she also loved that boy too.”

“It’s not the same.”

“No, maybe not, but can you say her grief was any less than yours?”

Jasper still hummed with rage, tears trailing down his cheeks, but he didn’t respond, just stared at Raven mournfully.

“It’s not fair,” he choked out. “I loved Maya so much.”

“I know,” she breathed, pulling him into a tight hug. “I know.”

His scrawny arms came around her, his awkward frame collapsing as he let her carry some of his weight. She could do that, for him, as he had done for her weeks ago.

_We’ve all got each other now_ ,  _right?_

Her throat closed up at the memory of that night, when he called her family, and the smile he had sent her, an innocent one he would never wear again.

“I’ve got you,” she murmured as she rubbed his shuddering back. “I’ve got you.”

She had his back, just like he had had hers. They were family, after all.

* * *

Raven threw her head back in laughter at Miller’s expense, the firelight dancing over his dark glower. Bellamy guffawed into his cup, which he then clinked against Monroe’s.

“Fuck you guys,” Miller grumbled, kicking some dry leaves at a giggling Harper.

As Monty tried to soothe Miller’s wounded pride, Raven leaned further back against her log, belly full of good food, moonshine, and amusement. It warmed her, seeing everyone relaxing after a hard winter.

Turning her head, she saw Jasper passing by. He paused, staring at the group. She caught his eye and raised her brows in question.

He shook his head, but the small uplift to his lips settled her worry. With a light nod, he continued on, jogging towards the Ark, still alone but now with straight shoulders no longer weighted down with such tangible grief and anger.

“He okay?” Bellamy murmured so only she could hear.

“No,” Raven replied, watching Jasper disappear into the dark interior of their home on the ground. “But he might be, one day.”

Bellamy nodded, and Raven took another sip of her moonshine.

_One day,_  she thought as she looked around at her scarred but smiling friends,  _we’ll all be okay._

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on tumblr (kay-emm-gee)!


End file.
